All joking aside, Lynch – who married Lara Embry, a psychologist, earlier this year – says coming out was a challenge for her – more so in her personal life than in her career. "I was more closeted in my life when I was younger," she says. "I used to lay in bed and go, 'How will I come out, or will I come out?' "

And in fact, it was DeGeneres's decision to come out – on the famous "Yep, I'm Gay" cover of Time magazine in 1997 – that gave Lynch the courage to follow suit.

"You were at the height of your fame and you came out," Lynch says. "And that just blazed a trail for me. It really did. It made it so much easier for me, what you did."